The present invention pertains to global mobile communications and more particularly to a satellite cellular telephone and data communication system.
Present geostationary satellite communication systems allow point-to-point communication. That is, the satellite functions as a relay station or a "bent pipe". The satellite simply receives information from one point on earth and transmits it to another fixed point on earth.
One such point-to-point satellite communication system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,873. This system shows point-to-point communications through a satellite for network programming and advertising purposes.
Some basic multiplexing functions may be supplied within the satellites of a satellite communication system. One such system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,328. This patent teaches a satellite communication system in which the satellite is a relay station for TDMA multiplexed data.
The above-mentioned systems and other systems teach the use of a single satellite for communications from one point to another. These satellite systems show no selectivity or switching of data among a plurality of users.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a global low-earth orbiting multiple satellite cellular communication system which interfaces directly among a number of cellular telephone and data transmission equipped users and also interfaces these users to the public switched telephone network (PSTN).